Posted on 01/27/2008 12:19:54 AM PST by neverdem
THE idea that cholesterol plays a key role in heart disease is so tightly woven into modern medical thinking that it is no longer considered open to question. This is the message that emerged all too clearly from the recent news that the drug Vytorin had fared no better in clinical trials than the statin therapy it was meant to supplant.
Vytorin is a combination of cholesterol-lowering drugs, one called Zetia and the other a statin called Zocor. Because the two drugs lower LDL cholesterol by different mechanisms, the makers of Vytorin (Merck and Schering-Plough) assumed that their double-barreled therapy would lower it more than either drug alone, which it did, and so do a better job of slowing the accumulation of fatty plaques in the arteries — which it did not.
Heart disease specialists who were asked to comment on this turn of events insisted that the result implied nothing about their assumption that LDL cholesterol is dangerous, only about whether it is always medically effective to lower it.
But this interpretation is based on a longstanding conceptual error embedded in the very language we use to discuss heart disease. It confuses the cholesterol carried in the bloodstream with the particles, known as lipoproteins, that shuttle that cholesterol around. There is little doubt that certain of these lipoproteins pose dangers, but whether cholesterol itself is a critical factor is a question that the Vytorin trial has most definitely raised. It’s a question that needs to be acknowledged and addressed if we’re going to make any more headway in preventing heart disease.
To understand the distinction between cholesterol and lipoproteins it helps to know something of the history of cholesterol research.
In the 1950s, two hypotheses competed for attention among heart disease researchers. It had been known for decades that...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I wouldn't.
I had an internist that didn’t put much stock in the homocystiene aspect, but at the same time said if I was concerned just take folic acid, that will lower it.
A friend that has a genuine cholesterol problem was telling telling us last week that some medical entity was again lowering the bar of recommended cholesterol levels. To the point of absurdity. Low enough that most of the adult population would need to be on prescription drugs to meet these levels.
It is reaching the point where one should adhere to the gold standard of determining why things are where they are now on this subject: “Follow the Money”.
(THE idea that cholesterol plays a key role in heart disease is so tightly woven into modern medical thinking that it is no longer considered open to question.)
Sounds like global warming - so scientifically “accepted” that nobody should bother with questioning it with facts.
A healthy diet is a first step to good health regardless of what cholesterol benefits may or may not result. Fresh fruits and vegetables, smaller portions of meat and less refined sugar and junk food certainly won’t hurt your health. Good heredity helps too. My cholesterol levels are what my doctor calls a cardiologists dream, but so were my father’s. A daily low dose aspirin may also be an effective preventative against heart disease as some researchers believe their is an inflammatory component that leads to blood clots in the coronary arteries.
One of Tina Turner’s biggest hits was “What’s Love Got To Do With It,” in the early ‘80s. I assumed this headline was a reference to that.
Thats the idea.
There are numerous other ways in which statins might be effective. They reduce inflammation, which is now considered a risk factor for heart disease. They act to keep artery walls healthy. And statins act on lipoproteins as much as on the cholesterol inside them. They decrease the total number of low-density and very low-density lipoproteins in the blood, including the smallest and densest form of LDL, which is now widely believed to be particularly noxious.
I dropped my cholesterol from 220 to 153 in 6 months by going low carb. I don’t skimp on the meat or cheese, I use cream in my coffee instead of milk, and I’ve cut out everything white (bread, potatos, rice, sugar) etc.
I also eat piles of vegetables, not much fruit because of the carbs. My triglycerides are 58.
I’m coming to the conclusion that at least for some people dietary meat and fat aren’t the problem, it’s the starch and sugar. Starch and sugar raise insulin levels, which are inflammatory and can cause inflammation of the arteries that the cholesterol then is generated by the body to try and patch up.
Studies have been done with insulin drips in dogs where the vein that had the drip inserted into it clogged really bad really fast.
I view cholesterol as “body spackle”, and if you stop the damage that requires the spackle to fix less of it will be generated.
LQ
I literally wouldn’t be bothered to keep living if I had to eat like that. Always hated vegetables and most of the other “good stuff”. Straight carbs for me along with a good stiff dose of statins. No red meat, though. No diet-related deaths or heart attacks in my family. Blood sugar fine. Hoping to keep up the streak. Cheers.
This sentence from the article:
“They decrease the total number of low-density and very low-density lipoproteins in the blood, including the smallest and densest form of LDL, which is now widely believed to be particularly noxious.”
makes no sense. Which are they, low density or high desnity?
Also, any have any thoughts on how high serum triglyceride levels factor into all this? I have rather high (about double to triple what be considered “normal”) levels of triglycerides, as well as lowish levels of HDL. My lipids doctor has mentioned putting me on drugs to lower my triglycerides, but I’m hesitant to start down a life-long path of taking drugs with known side-effects in many people.
Well, you know what you would be if your cholesterol went to zero.
Dead.
Most probably from bleeding out, massive hemorrhagic leakage of your veins and arteries.
The statement is correct. Basically it is saying LDL is lowered, HDL is not lowered, even the relatively H form of LDL is lowered. Everything is relative.
I'm not picking on you in particular. You just happened the last person that I saw make the comment, but that has to be the most trite comment on this forum.
What part of the drive by media do you find trustworthy? The New York Post that endorses Schumer and Hillary? The NY Sun pushing a third party run for Bloomberg? The Washington Times has been questioned about its bona fides. The author questioning the cholesterol hypothesis is not on the NY Times payroll for a regular paycheck. That's why he's called an Op-Ed Contributor, not an Op-Ed Columnist.
Data About Zetia Risks Was Not Fully Revealed
New Questions on Treating Cholesterol
ALEX BERENSON is on the Times payroll. Question all sources.
Plus, that same 20% suffer pain in the extremities while using statins.
Not many drugs out there that work directly to suppress immune responses AND have a neurological effect.
I think this answers the question. If everyone is defined as "sick, then this means everyone needs "medication."
Ratios, ratios, ratios.
High HDL, low triglycerides, and fluffy LDL.
My belief is based on watching my dad struggle with heart disease for years. Therefore, I think clogged arteries increase the issue for those who have already inherited heart disease genetically.
I am convinced I’ve lived a lot more years because I did not increase the stress on my heart by clogged arteries.
My doctor tests me every 3 months - before he will renew my medication. If he doesn’t like the numbers, he puts me on a stricter diet for a couple of weeks and retests me. From that we determine what adjustments I may need to make in my diet. That’s when he put me on Vytorin, but it didn’t work right for me because of my other intestinal issues.
I’m still on a very low dose of Lovastatin - and I’ve never had any other issues with the medication. Even when I creep back up toward 200, he still doesn’t increase the dosage. I recently lost 16 pounds and that seemed to help more than anything. I’m still working on trying to keep those pounds off. I also noticed that when I ate Oatmeal (even the instant in the little packets) - that’s when I got the best result and my number dropped to 187.
I’m already taking Omega-3 every day. I too believe it has helped to keep my number in a more normal range.
It is reaching the point where one should adhere to the gold standard of determining why things are where they are now on this subject: “Follow the Money”.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Amen, I don’t know exactly how this thing is being worked but I am becoming disgusted with all the advertising for prescription drugs that end with, “Ask your doctor if (fill in the blank) is right for you”. This is not how it is supposed to work, anyone with eyes and a brain can see that the goal is to have everyone on some kind of chronic medication to be taken forever. It is easy to see how the drug companies profit from this but what is making the physicians so eager to prescribe all this junk. I do know that a lot of testing labs are owned by doctors who send business to the labs. Are the doctors being given free stock in the drug cmpanies or what, something is going on!
It’s all about inflammation.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.